


Beware the Southpaw

by dragontatoes



Category: Brave (2012), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, Gen, Swords
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-26 20:10:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15008501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragontatoes/pseuds/dragontatoes
Summary: A short one-off story with Hiccup and Merida sword training together.





	Beware the Southpaw

While she didn’t know what to expect from joining a group of only boys for swordsmanship training, the introduction was a surprise. The teacher, Gobber, was a sight unto himself, and every pupil was following in his footstep. 

“Let’s see how you hold up.” Gobber clapped a tiny boy’s shoulder. “Hiccup here’s quite fresh himself. Win him, we’ll try you with the others.”

Without Gobber’s acknowledgment, she would guess Hiccup had gotten lost on his way somewhere else. He wasn’t more than an inch taller than she was, and looked a stone lighter. Freckles covered his narrow face, which turned every which way with anxiety. It wouldn’t take long for her to join ranks, she sighed in relief.

Hiccup lifted a practice sword off of the rack with his left hand. He didn’t pass it to the other. Merida remembered in her excitement some words of caution from her father, beware the southpaw. He was not going to be like other opponents, and had that small advantage.

Just a few minutes later, Hiccup passed the sword to his right hand and extended the left to her. Even those had freckles.

The last thing she wanted was to let him help her up, but she knew refusing him would make her look not only like a loser, but a sore one too. Even though the victor, he looked down at her tentatively, seeming to expect her to snap like a dog. She had landed facefirst after he escaped one of her blows and knocked her off balance, and now feared what punishment he would get for making her nose bleed. For the day, though, she couldn’t take on any extra negative reputations. His thin arm was little help up anyway, and she made sure to leave a smear of blood on it.

The spar repeated itself; endlessly, infuriatingly. It was beyond bad luck, and all the more irritating, knowing that she had to be stronger than him, but evidently less skilled. Her father had given her lessons and took her on since she was a bairn, and he might have let her win sometimes, but it seemed she at least knew what she was doing. 

On what felt like the thousandth rematch, she held strong, knowing some of the others were watching. Hiccup glanced at them as well. Each time it annoyed her more, as though she had just become boring at this point. Eventually, he wasn’t making any advance at her, only blocking. Attack meant leaving herself open, but it was as good a time as any. She was just starting to set her onslaught into motion when he made an odd turn. His arm was out too wide, she made a simple parry… and he dropped his own sword.

He sighed and shook his hand, like it was sore, but with how it dropped it was obvious he had hardly a grip on it. That alone ruled that her luck was out of the question. She knew from experience. Snotlout cheered and laughed from aside, excessively as always, and Merida made up her proudest fake smile. Thankfully, everyone paid more attention to Hiccup losing than her winning.

After he had received the last of his taunts, and before he left, Merida approached with a question more like an accusation. 

“Did you throw that spar?”

He hesitated. “No.”

“Liar”. Her sword pointed upward.

”It’s what everyone has been waiting for,” he said in defense, “they wanted to see me lose to the girl.”

She gritted her teeth. “What a wound to your reputation.”

Hiccup sighed, “You would’ve beaten me eventually anyways.”

“I see, you’re just impatient. Well, you should learn to insult someone properly.” She placed the practice sword back onto the rack. “I’m a comrade here, not a lady. The least you could do is admit you’re tired of fighting off the worst swordsman here.”

“I know that you’re not. They just don’t know how good I am.” He didn’t seem to notice what a braggart he sounded like.

“So that’s what it is, then? You’re too good to fight me?”

“I’ve done it for four days straight. Only because they think they’re too good to fight us.”

The path of his eyes led to the rest of Gobber’s pupils where they were gathered about the yard. While the beginners had been stuck with one another, they had been swapping opponents and honing skills. “We both want to try the others. I’ve been watching, and either of us could beat any of them as long as we pay good attention. Now you can prove that you aren’t the worst with a sword. And… I’ll show you that I’m the best.” Now he knew he was bragging. He bowed (poorly, as even she could tell), and addressed her, “my lady”.

She left the yard once it was clear he wouldn’t get away in one piece calling her that again. He was clever, she had to admit that, but she didn’t have to appreciate it. On top of everything else, smugness didn’t do him any favors. At the very least, nobody else had the eyes to know she hadn’t won that day. If she lost her next match, it would be with a bit less embarrassment.

The next morning was unforgivably muggy, making her palms sweat. Snotlout bore his foul grin as she prepared for combat with her second opponent, and first of the morning. All she needed was focus, and she could at least scare him, Snotlout was never very quick. Even if his strength was her defeat, nobody could blame her for that. He was the largest of the class, after all, which made Merida wonder why he was set on her as soon as she appeared to have conquered the smallest.

Within a minute, it was over. Merida stared at the sword on the ground, halfway wondering how it had fallen so quickly. Looking up, she saw many faces twisted in the same way as hers. Hiccup, however, wore no expression, perfectly calm. She wasn’t the worst swordsman there, and he wasn’t the second worst. She didn’t mind being proven wrong when it meant what she would get to see next.

As she watched him up against Snotlout, then Tuffnut, a cloud of confusion seemed to loom about their faces and they became clumsy, just like she had the first time. Snotlout stumbled around, trying to find his vantage point, while Tuffnut was impatiently slashing in every direction his opponent was not in. What they expected to be a simple victory turned against them and ultimately knocked the wooden swords from their hands as well. All spectators mumbled in amazement, all but Merida, with a grin hard to hide. Finally the problem with the sly small boy was obvious to her: nobody could predict his moves. Any other boy there used the same techniques over and again, but Hiccup was creative, and odd in his stance as well. Everyone he’d ever trained with was right-handed, but few had dealt with a southpaw at their age.

“I’ll be damned,” Gobber said under his breath, “you two trained each other.” He looked down on Merida with harsh eyes, but an impressed smirk. “Don’t go stealing my job.”

In time, the whole group of them improved, Gobber teaching them some real tactics, though even he struggled to translate them to a left-learner. Hiccup would have to keep using his instincts, so it was a godsend they were sharp. Now that they weren’t forced to do it anymore, Hiccup and Merida found great fun in sparring, and only they could surprise one another. It didn’t take long for Merida to prove him right and win fairly. Then on, it was anyone’s bet who would win between the two, but a certainty it would be a thrill to them both.


End file.
